National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh

Climate Environment and Science, Health, India, News, science and technology 5 November 2021

New super-computer to help research and start-ups

MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated an advanced 650 teraflops supercomputing facility at NABI Mohali New Delhi, Nov 05, 2021: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has inaugurated an advanced 650 teraflops supercomputing facility at National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) at Mohali which will act as a facilitator for start-ups working in areas like telemedicine, digital health, mHealth with big data, AI, Blockchain and other technologies. Established at a cost of Rs. 20 crores, it will cater to the needs of the interdisciplinary cutting-edge research being carried out at the Institute related to agricultural and nutritional biotechnology, and help analyse big data accruing from the large-scale genomics, functional genomics, structural genomics, and population studies being carried out at various Institutes and universities of national and international repute. It will be available to the scientists of NABI and Centre of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) and will be open to collaborative work for the scientists/faculties working in the neighboring institutes/universities and for the projects sanctioned under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). It has been set up in collaboration with C-DAC, Pune. Following the inauguration, Dr Jitendra Singh launched two digital working platforms –  NABI-Labify and e-Office at NABI & CIAB under the ‘Digital India’ Initiative. NABI Labify is a unique software that facilitates live tracking of funds, which are sanctioned for the purchase of equipment, consumables, manpower, and extramural projects. The Minister announced that the Government will identify and promote 75 innovative Start-Ups in the 75th year of India’s independence and the new supercomputing facility will act as a facilitator for them. In another event, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated i-RISE, a technology business incubator (TBI) at Mohali that proposes to provide world-class research facilities for start-ups in the country. With this, Mohali will join the league of other Start-up hubs in the country like Bengaluru and Gurugram. The Minister hoped that TBI will become successful and end up becoming a unicorn start-up, adding to the ever-growing list…

Research News

Climate Environment and Science, India, News 14 February 2020

Edible coating materials to improve shelf life of fruit crops

India ranks second in fruits production in the world after China New Delhi, February 14: Fruits are one of the most important horticulture commodities worldwide due to its organoleptic and nutritional properties. In India, the diversity of agro climatic zones ensures availability of all varieties of fresh fruits & vegetables. The country ranks second in fruits production in the world after China. As per National Horticulture Database published by National Horticulture Board, India produced about 300 million metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables during 2016-17. However, fruits are a highly perishable commodity as they contain 80-90% water by weight. The water quickly begins to evaporate, if fruits are left without cuticle, resulting in poor product shelf life. Absence of postharvest treatment, non-availability of modern systems for on-farm storage, infestation of microorganism and pests, and lack of processing methods are responsible are resulting in high levels of postharvest losses in fruit and vegetable in India – about 25-30 percent. In addition, there is limited availability of cold chain facilities for storage and transportation leading to lower shelf life. Scientists at Department of Biotechnology’s Mohali-based National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute have developed non-toxic and edible composite coatings based on wheat straw hemicellulosic polysaccharide (WP) and stearic acid derivatized oat bran polysaccharide (SAOP) that promise to overcome the problems. They prepared emulsions of the composite and coated them on the surface of samples of apple, peach and banana. They found that the coating helped to significantly reduce fruit weight loss and softening, and delay ripening. They also helped maintain sensory qualities compared to non-coated fruits. The formulation could extend the post-harvest quality of apple (Royal Delicious and Rich Red, Kinnaur) for up to or more than 30 days, peach up to 6-8 days and Bananas up to 9 days without significant blackening under ambient storage. “The coating technology is simple, and cost-effective. The edible coating material has potential as an alternative to commercially available animal based shellac coating in India”, the scientists said. An Indian patent  has been filed on the formulation and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) has been signed with R.G. Industries, New…